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Monday, August 15, 2022

Miss Suzanne Super Sweet Speaks About Burn2

 
 By Bixyl Shuftan

Burn 2 is Second Life's longest lasting and largest annual art and music festival. Based on the real-life Burning Man festival that also tales place every year and attracts tens of thousands, it has attracted many fans and a number of spinoff events. It has been a party to look forward to every year. 
 
Unfortunately, this year there has been trouble behind the scenes. A number of the Burners have resigned, and there have been accusations from some of them against the group's leadership. The Newser contacted one of the Burn2 Rangers, Miss Suzanne Super Sweet (SuperSuz Resident), and asked for an explanation of what's going on.

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Question: Who is the owner of the sim and what part does that person play in oversight?

 

Answer: The Burn2 sim is owned by Michael Mikel (M2 Burner) and is funded by the Burning Man Project, a 501c3 non-profit organization. The Burning Man Project produces the annual Burning Man event in Black Rock City, and provides year-round support, connection, education, and grants to Burning Man communities in more than 40 US States and 35 countries under its Regionals Program. M2 sponsors the Burn2 sim under the Burning Man Regionals Program  and is ultimately responsible for Burning Man intellectual property used on the Burn2 sim.


The Burn2 Burning Man Regional Contacts are 3V and myself, Miss Suzanne Super Sweet.  M2 Burner is not involved in any planning of events, building or attending planning meetings.  He does, however, remain a part of the committee that is consulted for restrictions such as banning or even removing someone from leadership.  M2 has faith in the current Burn2 Leadership and expects us to deal with our problems internally whenever possible.  For more information about the early history of BURN2, we have that on our website here. 


Question: Why was Deep Hole access restricted for two months?

 

Answer: We stated the reasoning for the closure of Deep Hole, here: 

https://www.burn2.org/important-message-conception-deep-hole-closed/   


I feel a need to clarify some things. At the time, it seemed the appropriate step to take, to pause and cool things down, and let the Burn2 leadership, in conjunction with Burning Man Network leadership, work on the issues that had arisen. For the Burn2 leadership, this was just as unexpected as it was for the community. I explained that Deep Hole was closed as an intervention to calm down the conflict which had escalated between some individuals.  The plan was to provide a cooling off period and also work with our leadership, where much of the escalation was occurring.  This cooling off time for leadership and  intervention included blocking access to Deep Hole and canceling the next event for the purpose of providing more time to look closely at our processes and policies. 


During the cooling down period and going forward, the leads worked together on specific goals.  We still have a lot of work to do and we will be asking others to help us move forward.  Eventually, we will be looking at our structure, improving Burn2’s culture, and strengthening the teams that help to organize events. Volunteers will have opportunities to join the teams that match their interests. 


Deep Hole was reopened on the 31st of July.  On reopening day, there were several people there who had resigned from their volunteer roles in protest.   I issued an apology for the decision to shut down Deep Hole  and how that negatively affected the community.   I explained the reasons for the cooling off period and attendees shared their frustrations.  The main reason given was that during the months leading up to the cooldown period, there were particular incidents that happened between individuals that continued to escalate due to offensive behaviors between those individuals.  This led to many people reporting high physical and mental stress.


Question: Why were some people dismissed and/or banned?

 

Answer: The reasons for dismissals and bans are kept confidential, out of consideration and respect for the privacy and dignity of the individuals involved. Decisions about dismissals or bans are not taken lightly and are, for the most part, made by a committee of experienced people who have been deemed by Burning Man management as capable and with the qualities needed to make the least restrictive and most inclusive choices possible and reasonable. The committee takes care in reviewing the cases. They try to understand and deliberate before making these decisions.  I am a member of this committee.


Burn2 is guided by a liberal ethos along with the 10 Principles of Burning Man.  Determining the line of inclusion is a constant challenge. We strive to be inclusive and supportive of volunteers in Burn2. We also hold those in leadership to higher expectations as custodians of responsibility in Burn2. 


I will refer you to this page, which talks about the rights and responsibilities of volunteers. 


Question: What happens now?

 

Answer: I have been working with leadership during the cooling down and know that there have been many hours committed to improving policies.  This includes policies governing the leadership.  Several policies were developed or are being developed, such as, the Code of Conduct Policy for Leadership.  We created additional policies for the Burn2 community: the Burn2 Code of Ethics, meetings policy and groups/chat policies. These are designed to foster a more positive and communal spirit in our interactions with each other. We seek constructive feedback focused on creating procedures, policies and decisions with the aim of improving the regional culture. We want to end the practice of public finger-pointing, personal accusations and allegations targeted at individuals, by defining a private complaint process.  Planning for this year’s Octoburn event is getting underway, at the weekly planning meetings on Sundays at 9am SLT and Thursdays at 9pm SLT.  In addition, there is going to be separate meeting time that leadership is setting up with the Burn2 community to give even more opportunity to talk about the shutdown and the work that was done with the leads in conjunction with Burning Man management during that period. I hope that we continue to take the feedback and make changes.  Not all will be implemented but all will be considered.  I know that not everyone is going to be content with this.. I am staying open to ideas on what to do about our problems by focusing on the suggestions, ideas and solutions that are about policy and processes that leadership and others use to operate. I look forward to that because we can always get better and improve on what we have collectively created and what we have been given to creatively express art together.  This is my personal goal.      


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The upcoming Burn2 event or "Octoburn" will take place from Friday October 7 to Sunday October 16. Of the Burners who left the group, some have been active in the Burn ONe area and having events of their own. What happens as time goes on remains to be seen.
 
Correction: The header that lead to the article stated that Burn2 had been going on since the start of Second Life. We were counting the time period of Burning Life, which was the virtual version of Burning Man until Linden Lab ceased it's sponsorship after several years. After that, there were a number of changes, including the name which was changed to Burn2.

Bixyl Shuftan

37 comments:

  1. We encourage all members of the SL burner community to participate in the upcoming discussions. There are many significant changes to both the organization and the operations of the playa events coming. We hoped that these changes would be made public through group chat, but we thank Bixyl for helping us spread the word. While we wait for the meetings to be scheduled, we invite you all to explore Burn ONe's WaterWorld event in our Highup sim.. [ 8/19 - 8/21]

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    Replies
    1. The person interviewed above, Suzanne Super Sweet, neglected to mention that SHE TOO HAS RESIGNED.
      Also resigning from leadership is FREIA, who did not mention that either in her comment below.
      This week CUGA resigned, a fact leadership refused to be disclosed at the most recent public meeting.
      Herbie Haven likewise RESIGNED, then his co-lead DZ was retroactively rejected as replacement
      Nance Clowes was pressured by Suzanne, above, to 'transfer', then forcibly removed from leadership by Suzanne via unaccountable "007" methods of inventing new rules and ignoring old rules to do so
      More than half of the burn2 volunteers have now resigned. Who is next?

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  2. Sadly this report is pretty much as expected.. a whole "everything is fine at Burn2"

    Of course there is the Fact that at least a third of the staff left "of their own choice"

    Two Operations departments were completely destroyed. But don't worry it's not like they provided builder and event support or anything useful.

    Oh and the group chats are still locked down. But that's fine we wouldn't want anyone to be able to say anything mean about our Glorious Leaders.

    Be sure to keep an eye out for the much volunteer opportunities. You are valued and make it all happen! Until you aren't useful to the owners anymore and then you can just GET Lost!

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  3. What is sad is this small band of disgruntled ex-staff and malcontents who pretend to speak for everyone and seem determined to ruin Burn2 for everyone. They do not speak for everyone. You only have to read the Burn2 blog and attend the meetings to see how hard the leads are working. Unlike these whiners who are doing nothing but disrupt the meetings and complain. They do nothing productive, want to destroy Burn2 and if they dont like it they should just shut up and go away so the rest of us can enjoy Burn2.

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    1. There are -6- volunteers still working at Burn2. They are the only happy ones. There were 7 last week. 8 the week before that. 9 the week before that. 37 Community members came out against them at the first open meeting

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    2. This sort of Rhetoric (from what I suspect to be one of the newer leadership) is what saddens me and is one of the reasons I among others are facing having to leave Burn2. The claim that since I am not happy and agree 100% with the latest changes somehow means I have done nothing productive except complain devalues and disregards all the work I have volunteered over multiple years at Burn2. I've built and burned the man in 2020 and 2021. I've put many hours of work into infrastructure and support projects. I had my access and permissions cut without explanation last October and yet I continued on.. even as this has all been going down I gracefully ensured my gifts of infrastructure to the community could at least carry on in some way and did not revoke them. and yet apparently "I do Nothing productive" because i do not 100% agree with this nasty powergrab.

      Also even the "You only have to read the Burn2 blog and attend the meetings to see how hard the leads are working." Who do you think owns and controls the messaging on the blog and group messages!? Would someone really say they themselves are doing a terrible job? The statement even contradicts itself Saying there's "whiners who are doing nothing but disrupt the meetings and complain." while why do you think we speak out at the only place we have left where our voice can be heard.

      But yeah I get it.. I'm getting tired of this all too and i suppose I should just "go away" though I certainly will not shut up and allow it all quietly to be buried yet again so more volunteers can be recruited to be mistreated.

      In conclusion I am saddened by all by all the damage done by a few people who have painted the situation as one extreme or the other and refused to find common ground in between.

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    3. One more note in response. I have never at one point claimed I speak for everyone. Most of us "malcontents" know we even have differing viewpoints among ourselves. So NO I/we do not speak for "everyone" but we aren't an insignificant minority of viewpoints either.

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    4. Even if one community member is upset IT MATTERs. Small old large new it has come to a tipping point and many long time staff resigned due to more than just a playa closure. They said why they resigned and gave specific reasons even. The power hungry leads have gone on too long and have made too many upsetting choices that has led us where we are now. Many have just had enough (not just a few) and are speaking out. They ask those leads to step down and let their coleads step up…It’s time to post the many volunteer roles that are currently available to the Burn2 community as they should be. Anyone can read the Burn2 chat log from the past three planning meetings to see just how ready they really are to listen to others. Rules rules and more rules and oh the playa is gong to shut down again. Surprise! Oh and there are no burn2 sound stages for burner performers to gift their sound art on during Octoburn they have to buy a plot and make their own sound stage now. Forget about radical inclusion and community.

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    5. Disgruntled is not a bad description, unhappy, annoyed, dissatisfied etc. Makes you wonder why almost ½ the leadership is gone or leaving, dozens of good volunteers walked away, and the meetings must be controlled by fear of banning because many of the people there have issues and questions the leads do not want to deal with. Its so much easier to ban someone complaining about a problem than it is to solve the problem, especially if the problem is you.
      Your snide remarks make me think you may be one of the remaining desperate leads, clinging to power as if it’s your God given right to rule the people, the way you speak to members of the community is reminiscent of the way some of the Leads speak to the people they are supposed to serve. Rude or demeaning remarks and put downs are something we have all become accustomed to from you people. Belittling peoples concerns and claiming to be “attacked” anytime someone disagrees with you is an old tool but has no place at Burn2. Do you even read what you write or listen to yourself at all?
      None of the many people who have recently resigned or stopped volunteering are doing it to harm the community, it’s quite the opposite, they are against the current leadership, not the community. The fact that the current leadership suffer the delusion that they are “the community” becomes obvious when you question their abuses of power and they claim you are a treat to the community, they seem to forget, the people are the community, and they serve the people. Some of the leaders will burn the place to the ground if they can rule over the ashes. Telling people to shut up and go away is not very productive, this is your vision of being productive? Shut up and go away whiners? No wonder Burn2 is in such bad shape with people such as yourself involved.

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    6. Bitter lies and negativity from bitter people. Move on. 37 people at those meetings do not support your destructive narrative, but you can't stop claiming to speak for everybody when the simple fact is you dont. You are putting all your energy in trying to pursue personal disputes when the real majority, the real 'community' just wants you all to shut up and stop trying to destroy our Burn2. Its simple, volunteer and be part of positive change or STFU and move on. You will fail to destroy Burn2, but your negativity and bitterness will eat you inside. Sad bitter people.

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  4. Thanks for posting about this Bixyl- true that there are those who are unhappy with things as they are, but there are also many who are not, and eager to get back to making fun, creative events happen on the playa again. Those who have grievances are welcome to participate in the discussions to further improve how the group is managed.

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    1. Our Burn2 is being held hostage by leadership that refuses to leave and have made careers out of temporary positions

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    2. It’s way past that point miss Friea. Thanks anyways.

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    3. Freia, “Volunteer Coordinator” didn’t you tell everyone at a meeting recently “I want to point out that all the current leads have co-leads”? I`m curious about all the vacant co-lead roles on your website, will the names of these “new” people be added so others know the roles are filed already?
      b2tv co-lead, dpw co-lead, comms co-lead, fashionistas co-lead, placement co-lead
      https://www.burn2.org/who-is-burn2/departments-and-roles/

      Delete
  5. As a member of the community I am appalled by the actions of a small minority that has disrupted the community and shaken it to it's very foundations. And yet just as the phoenix rose from the ashes, so too will the virtual Burning Man come roaring back in time for Octoburn 2022. I have confidence in the current leadership and they have my support ongoing during the process they been working on for the last few months.

    They know they can also reach out to me as a neutral party if need be to answer any concerns they have to which I am capable of providing the answers they seek.

    Plans for Octoburn 2022 are ongoing and as the leadership will be working behind the scenes to come up with a viable alternative and to make new the community known as BurningMan 2.0. will for sure survive this tragedy they been thru and come out much stronger in the end.

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    1. This is yhe Current temporary Leadership ---> "I am appalled by the actions of a small minority that has disrupted the community and shaken it to it's very foundations. "

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    2. This is ironic, say you have all the answers, then post as anonymous so no one can contact you for help? This looks like the Burn2 Complaint system in a nutshell. FYI - Neutral: not helping or supporting either side in a conflict, disagreement, etc.; impartial:

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  6. Burn2 has always been a place to express artistic expressions, music and having fun. Burn2 is also about our Ten Principles, volunteering, sharing and helping. Unfortunately a few have become unhappy and disgruntled and they left spreading discontent and negativity. I would like to hope that the current open communications with the Break-Out meetings will have positive results so everyone will become advocates of this amazing community we call Burn2.

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    1. Suzie has broken all 10 Principles and then 5 more. She likes to use the word 'few' to describe people who are not liking the way things are now. There are only 6 volunteers left because of Suzie, that IS few. Go to any meeting and you will see double or triple that many against them, being threatened every few minutes. These are the Burn2 HEROES

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    2. If Anonymous meets the criteria and wants to be lead of the Fashionistas I'll step aside and pass on the baton.
      I look at my roll of lead not as a leader, but to take ideas, suggestions, and complaints, and bring them up at Fashionistas meetings, we fix what needs fixing and move on. I'm also the spokes person for the group. BURN2 Fashionistas is a group undertaking, a team, no one person is in charge.
      The Burn2 community needs to unite.
      We need “Solutions” and constructive input from everyone. Finger pointing, bashing and everything else is a waste of time.

      Delete
    3. Criteria: "Have been in at least 6 (Six) shows" = with 3-4 shows a year a person has to wait almost 2 years before they qualify for the lead role, then how do they get it? who chooses them? who approves them? who allows them in the role as lead? who do you have to be friends with to be allowed to even be a lead at this point?

      Delete
  7. Even if one community member is upset IT MATTERs. Small old large new it has come to a tipping point and many long time staff resigned due to more than just a playa closure. They said why they resigned and gave specific reasons even. The power hungry leads have gone on too long and have made too many upsetting choices that has led us where we are now. Many have just had enough (not just a few) and are speaking out. They ask those leads to step down and let their coleads step up…It’s time to post the many volunteer roles that are currently available to the Burn2 community as they should be. Anyone can read the Burn2 chat log from the past three planning meetings to see just how ready they really are to listen to others. Rules rules and more rules and oh the playa is gong to shut down again. Surprise! Oh and there are no burn2 sound stages for burner performers to gift their sound art on during Octoburn they have to buy a plot and make their own sound stage now. Forget about radical inclusion and community.

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  8. The diatribe of negativity coming from the disgruntled ex-staff attacking Burn2 is sad to see, but really highlights why they were unsuitable in leadership roles. Those choosing to only believe their narrative are doing so in an act of one-sided blind faith. There are always two sides to any dispute or disagreement. Because one side in a dispute is loud and content to hurl personal accusations and insults in public, but the other side respects privacy and does not, does not make the loud side right. It means you are only hearing half of the story and choosing to believe it wholesale means you are making uninformed decisions. This is why people in the US right now are attacking the FBI with assault weapons, worshipping and 'protecting' their cult leader Trump, regardless of and without knowing the actual facts of the situation.

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    1. WOW that person got dark. You equate the much larger reform side to assault weapon killings and Trump? WOW. I was on the fence before but if you really are one of those 'leading' burn2 I am going to support those peacefully asking you to leave. Burn2 is about art and expression, not obscenely exaggerated comparisons of other burn2 people to assault weapon attacks and calling them cult members. WOW. How can I support the reform side?

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    2. You are missing the point of the analogy. It's about the dangers of blind, uninformed faith, not the dangers of AR16s

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    3. Oh, I thought it was about narcissistic leaders who refuse to leave because they think they are chosen by God.

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    4. "Because one side in a dispute is loud" This is yet another delusion, to try and diminish the people who have issues to “one side”, it`s tone deaf and out of touch with the community as usual. There are many sides and many stories that all simply have some things on common “leadership issues”. This is not one sides story or a few loud people, its many community members and each has their own story, this is not about you and whatever your “half of the story” is. If you honestly believe this is simply “one side” against another, you are mistaken or deluding yourself so you can sleep at night.
      You can try and belittle the many community members who have issues by claiming its just ex-staff or a few disgruntled employees, but that’s far from the truth. Sad truth is that the “decent leads” have already left or have put in notice to leave, or they just don’t bother showing up at all as if they can just hide this out and ignore it all, the ones left ruling are the power hungry who will do or say anything to stay in power and shamelessly promote their sycophants to support them.

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    5. But that's just it, you haters are not 'the community'. You are a tiny minority of bitter ex-staff and malcontents who have swallowed their lies. I have sat in some of those recent planning meetings where several of those leads you are persecuting and telling lies about have specifically appealed for volunteers to join their departments and are seeking new leads for them. But you don't let the truth get in the way of your crusade to smear and misrepresent them. One thing is clear though, I sincerely hope Burn2 is wise enough to never appoint any of you sad, negative, bitter, hateful people into Leadership.

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    6. " I have sat in some of those recent planning meetings where several of those leads you are persecuting and telling lies about have specifically appealed for volunteers to join their departments and are seeking new leads for them."

      And where have they done this? As of right now 8/16/22 There are no new notices about vacancies or for volunteer recruitments in either the Burn2.0 Group or Burn2.org. Sure there is some info if you really start drilling down but nothing directly visible on first glance to the average person in the group. Or is the volunteer recruiting only for those at the planning meetings which more then a small minority of which such as myself are being told to go away??

      So who is really telling the inaccuracies and mistruths?

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    7. > "You are a tiny minority of bitter ex-staff and malcontents who have swallowed their lies. " There are six leads remaining. Recently there were eleven.

      There literally are no burn2 volunteers right now other than the six leads. The more we keep learning at these meetings the less people are interested in volunteering if it means they too will be abused similarly to the resigning volunteers. Two entire departments entirely vacated rather than work with the six leads and I can see why now. It seems to me that by math, more people have expressed a desire not to have to work with the six leaders, than there are leaders.

      There seems to be no shortage of burning man enthusiasts to work, as Burn ONe has run two full events, while leadership at burn2 cancelled all burn2 Summer events.
      If more people than six is being called a 'tiny minority' then what does that make the six?
      Sixty burners formed a temporary new group to continue the burning man spirit which they feel they can no longer express at burn2.
      I too have attended some of the recent meetings and what I saw was four of the six leads generally attend, two almost never attend, and the leaders who are there are not treating those with grievances with any of the respect 10 principles should have taught them to have. To be fair, the crowds often are also not treating leadership well, but they are not subject to the Code of Conduct that leadership has proposed and openly breaks repeatedly.
      I think I will probably stay away from burn2 entirely until things get better on all sides.

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    8. "One thing is clear though, I sincerely hope Burn2 is wise enough to never appoint any of you sad, negative, bitter, hateful people into Leadership." Nope Burn2 is not wise enough, all those adjectives you just spit fit the current leads perfectly!

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  9. While the current leadership professes to be looking forward to a gleeful community gathering in October, clearly the stated objective of the shutdown has NOT been achieved. We have been effectively CLOSED for business since January and it seems like EVERY leadership decision has proven counterproductive. WE have traded public discourse for military style "ejections", our community voices have been removed from participation in leadership with NO PUBLIC announcements of the reasons OR mechanics. WE have been assured that the new Code of Ethics is the answer to our private discord server tensions, and here we are. HERE IS YOUR CHANCE leadership.. RIGHT HERE AND NOW. Call out those people "spitting" the hate on your side and hold them accountable. PUBLICLY. Just because it says anonymous on the post doesn't mean you can't find those same words in week after week after week of private lead meeting chat logs. If you made ANY EFFORT at all along those lines some people might see a chance to help you avoid your upcoming fiasco. I am not likely to be one of them, but I will be buying tickets to watch.

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  10. After you figure that one out.. Tell us why we sacrificed a performance department that took 4 months to "approve" for a BTV department that has no more MAIN or BOB STAGEs to "broadcast". Or are we going to shut down the playa for 4 hour lamplighter processions and dancing?

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    1. Probably will be no 4 hour lamplighters. The first lamplighter meeting we had after the Closure the most of us I have ever seen gathered to learn what had happened. iSkye would not tell us anything and as the questioning continued she simply adjourned and teleported away. Many of us gave up there and then. I'm glad we are no longer there to witness what has become of Burn2. I hope you dissenters push on until the leads who Paused burn2 and would not tell us anything are gone.

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    2. oh my gosh you should not have given up on iSkye so quickly. At the next meeting she tried to convince every one of us lamplighters to LEAVE SECOND LIFE and move with her to open grid. Needless to say none of us took her up on that.
      I will not be supporting iSkye as a lamplighter or burn2 burner any more- she has made us lamplighters into "burn victims"

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  11. The "Burn2 leadership" should actually pay attention to what is said in this burning man journal article here:
    https://journal.burningman.org/2019/11/philosophical-center/tenprinciples/what-is-burning-man-leadership-a-model/

    "That if the essence of the volunteer experience is the experience of RACER qualities, then a leader in Burning Man culture is someone who helps spread and distribute these qualities to everyone. Leadership does not come from making decisions, or controlling resources: leaders help everyone involved to experience Relevance, Agency, Competence, Engagement and Relatedness. And, of course, this means that leadership is not a zero-sum game: just because one person is doing it, doesn’t mean someone else can’t.

    This, then, is what differentiates Burning Man leadership from other kinds of leadership. A concentration of power in a single person or office or committee is actually a failure of leadership precisely because it tends to force others to ask for permission, hordes social capital, puts artificial limits on Agency and Competence, and so on. One can be given influence and be a leader, but not collect power."

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  12. So a Burn2 Lead with the qualities of of a Burning Man Leadership would never make a statements like these:

    "What is sad is this small band of disgruntled ex-staff and malcontents who pretend to speak for everyone and seem determined to ruin Burn2 for everyone."
    "Whiners who are doing nothing but disrupt the meetings and complain. They do nothing productive, want to destroy Burn2 and if they don't like it they should just shut up and go away so the rest of us can enjoy Burn2."

    ReplyDelete